1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrangement for rolling hot-rolled wide strips from continuously cast thin slabs by means of a continuous finishing train.
2. Description of the Related Art
In newly developed production arrangements, the primary material used for the finishing train are continuously cast thin slabs which have a thickness of less than 70 mm, preferably 50 mm. The thin slabs are severed from a strand which is produced in a continuous casting machine. The strand is cut at a length which corresponds to the required coil weight for the finished hot-rolled wide strip.
For maintaining the necessary rolling temperature, the thin slabs are conveyed to a furnace, preferably a roller-bottom-type furnace, which can simultaneously be used as the conveying system from the continuous casting machine to the finishing train.
However, the casting speeds of continuous casting machines for continuously casting thin slabs which can be achieved today are relatively slow, so that the capacity of the subsequent continuous finishing train cannot be utilized. In fact, the feeding speed of the continuous finishing trains for hot-rolled wide strips are greater by approximately the factor 2 to 4 than the casting speed of casting machines suitable for continuously casting thin slabs.
Therefore, it has already been proposed to have two parallel continuous casting machines which cooperate with a continuous finishing train for hot-rolled Wide strips. In this arrangement, the thin slabs are alternatingly severed from each of the two cast strands and are subsequently conveyed to the hot-rolled wide strip finishing train for rolling. By means of two longitudinal/transverse/longitudinal conveying systems, or so-called ferries, the thin slabs are moved from the respective casting line and are placed in alignment with the hot-rolled wide strip finishing train, so that they can be pulled into the finishing train.
The above-described arrangement for rolling hot-rolled strips from continuously cast thin slabs results in a marked improvement with respect to the utilization of the finishing train and, thus, in an increase of the efficiency of the overall arrangement. However, an optimum utilization of the arrangement is still not possible.